Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
D.C. Health Department Orders Hospital To Stop Baby Deliveries; Bay Area ACO To Expand Its Network
The D.C. Health Department is restricting United Medical Center鈥檚 license that allowed it to perform obstetrics and nursery care while the hospital implements a plan to improve those services, a spokeswoman for the agency said Tuesday. Regulators could lift the restrictions before the 90-day mark if the hospital makes the required improvements and passes an inspection. Other services at the long-troubled public hospital, which serves some of the city鈥檚 poorest residents, are unaffected by the move. (Nirappil, 8/8)
The Department of Health in Washington, D.C., has ordered a hospital to stop delivering babies and offering prenatal care for the next 90 days. The Washington Post reported Tuesday that district officials declined to say what prompted the suspension at United Medical Center. But the hospital is implementing a plan to improve those services. (8/8)
Canopy Health, the Bay Area accountable care organization co-founded by UCSF in 2015, is adding three Dignity Health hospitals to its growing list of in-network providers. With the new Dignity additions 鈥 St. Mary鈥檚 Medical Center and St. Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco, and Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City 鈥 the Canopy network will have 4,000 physicians, 16 hospitals and about 15,000 patients, or 鈥渕embers.鈥 (Ho, 8/8)
As psychiatric patients struggle to get treatment, some of them waiting for days in emergency rooms, health care companies have seen an opportunity: Three gleaming new psychiatric hospitals have gone up in Massachusetts since 2015, and two more are in the works. But it鈥檚 turning out to be harder than expected to fill them with patients. (Kowalczyk, 8/8)
If you thought hospitals in Houston were exempt from visits by the city health inspectors, think again. Chron.com has searched through the last seven months of routine reports prepared by the Houston Health Department, and found that slimy ice, food not safe for human consumption, and bad hygienic practices have occurred even in healthcare environments. (Gonzales, 8/8)
There's also more coverage of the U.S. News hospital rankings 鈥
Dr. Joanne Conroy鈥檚 second day as CEO and president of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center started with news that her hospital was named best in the state by U.S. News & World Report. ...No New Hampshire hospital made the national rankings, but Dartmouth-Hitchcock received high marks for abdominal aortic repair surgery, hip replacement surgery, as well as colon cancer and lung cancer surgeries. (Grosky, 8/9)
Two area hospitals earned spots on U.S. News & World Report鈥檚 鈥淏est Hospitals鈥 list. U.S. News ranked Saint Luke's Hospital in four medical specialty areas. The University of Kansas Hospital was deemed to be the best hospital in Kansas and in metro Kansas City, while Saint Luke鈥檚 was ranked the second聽best hospital in Missouri, behind Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.聽Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka was deemed the second best hospital in Kansas, the only other hospital in the state to earn top honors. (Margolies, 8/8)